Dashun Yongchang

Send someone to inform them to return to Gaozhuang to join the Green Camp, no, let them monitor the village nearby, if there is nothing unusual, return to Gaozhuang early tomorrow morning, and then retreat back to the camp when we come back..."

When Chen Minghan, the governor of the green battalion, sent the Manchu and Mongolian cavalry including Erzhai and Humisai out of Gaozhuang, he desperately assured the two Manchus that he would guard the stronghold of Gaozhuang and wait for their return in victory.

When these Manchu and Mongolian cavalry marched towards the east in three rows, several subordinates around Chen Minghan complained with some dissatisfaction: "This leaves us behind? Emotions bring us out to do hard work." , don’t give us any benefits? If I had known this, I wouldn’t have come out even if I pretended to be sick.”

Chen Minghan immediately lowered his face when he heard this, turned his head and scolded his subordinates: "Pretend to be sick? Do you really want to be sent to die? We soldiers can't get enough to eat, what can those sick people eat? Are you I don’t know the blessings in the blessings. I really think I can get any benefits from going out with the Mandarin. When you ride a horse, you can walk. When you meet a Shunjun, you can run. Why do you run? Stay and give some strength and you won’t die. If you really want to Going back to the camp, it’s just right, I’m relieved to send those corpses back..."

After being scolded so hard by Chen Minghan, several people dared not speak out. After all, transporting the corpse back is not a good job, so they might as well stay in Gaozhuang and gamble.A few people were confused for a moment, then changed the topic, and embraced Chen Minghan to be a villager.

Chapter 507 The Qing Army's Retaliation III

When the Qing army appeared near Gaozhuang, the observation post arranged by the Shun army near Gaozhuang noticed it.According to Zhang Yong's judgment, once the Qing army wants to retaliate against Gaozhuang, the first step of the Qing army will be to investigate the traces of the battle in Gaozhuang. , we can know whether the Qing army will take retaliatory action.

Judging from what the Qing army did in the pass in the past, the Qing army's revenge mentality is very strong, because this kind of revenge is also to deter those villages that dare to attack the Qing army and villages that support the official army. If they dare not attack the Qing army or help the official army, then the Qing army is marching within its own control area.

This approach of the Qing army is effective, because the Ming army has no responsibility to protect civilians. For the Ming court, it is not the responsibility of the Qing army to kill civilians, but it is a problem that the army cannot defend the land. It is a big crime, so the officials of Ming Dynasty would rather wait for the Qing army to leave to recover the lost land, and would not fight the Qing army for a few civilians, because if the official army is wiped out by the Qing army, they will not be able to regain the lost ground.

Zhang Yong's judgment was supported by Zhang Hong, so he set up several observation posts in the forest near Gaozhuang. With the help of long-distance observation tools such as binoculars, the observers of the Shun Army could safely find out the sight of the Qing soldiers. The actions of the Qing soldiers.

When more than a hundred cavalry led by Orzhai and Hu Misai headed towards the east of Gaozhuang, the news quickly spread back to Zhang Hong.Zhang Hong recruited Zhang Yong and other subordinates and informed them of the movements of the Qing army, and then said: "Now the Qing army is divided into four groups, one of which is stationed in Gaozhuang, mainly infantry, and the number is about 200; Searching near us, there are about fifty or sixty cavalry; all the way near the friendly army station, about fifty or sixty cavalry have been found; all the way appeared near Wulou, plus the cavalry that is now reinforced by the Qing army, There are about 300 cavalry. Let’s talk about how we should fight next.”

Others were still thinking, but Zhang Yong couldn't wait to stand up and said: "Since the Qing army attacked Wulou so resolutely, it means that they have noticed all the traces we left behind. Then they must have noticed, too. The street fighting in the Qing Dynasty was extremely unfavorable to the cavalry, so I believed that the Qing army would not attack Wulou when the light was bright, so as not to repeat the same mistakes.

If a low-ranking official is the chief general of the Qing army, then the best time to launch an attack is at midnight and at dawn. The latter may be more appropriate. After breaking through the defense of the village, you can pursue it at dawn Escape from the guards outside the village.With the speed of the cavalry, they must have the upper hand in such a field pursuit. "

For Zhang Yong's judgment, both his colleagues and his boss Zhang Hong felt that it was very reasonable, so Zhang Yong continued: "We can guess the movement of the Qing army, but the Qing army does not know the movement of our army. Therefore, the Qing army stationed in Gaozhuang tonight must be the most relaxed, because they feel that they are attacking rather than defending.

In addition, most of the Qing troops stationed in Gaozhuang were infantry, which was obviously a relatively low-level army in the Qing army. Most of these troops should be former Ming officials who surrendered after entering the customs. From my humble understanding of these people, they There must be no vigilance, and it is suitable as our primary target.

Without the stronghold of Gaozhuang, the cavalry of the Qing army outside lost their logistical supplies, and then the initiative returned to our hands.Then, we can stick to Wulou, or lead the Qing army into the reed marshes and swamps to the southeast of Wulou for an ambush. If the general of the Qing army is hesitant and refuses to retreat, then we may not be able to replicate another battle. The Battle of Gaozhuang. "

The plan given by Zhang Yong is simple and clear. First fight the Qing army infantry with the weakest combat power, and then seek to ambush the Qing army cavalry. This obviously agrees with everyone's thoughts. After losing the Qing infantry in Gaozhuang, the Qing cavalry lost their logistics, and they had a chance to win.

Therefore, everyone responded positively to this proposition, but some people also suggested, "The Qing infantry in Gaozhuang should have no precautions, and the Qing cavalry going to Wulou should have no time to look back, but the Qing cavalry and cavalry near us What should we do with the Qing cavalry near the friendly garrison in the west? If they show up when we attack Gaozhuang, or go to join the Qing cavalry in Wulou tomorrow, they will probably cause us great trouble."

Regarding the two lines of Qing army cavalry, even Zhang Yong has no good solution, because they have no cavalry, and it is difficult for cavalry in the wild to be attacked by infantry.However, Zhang Hong said: "We are not fighting alone. Naturally, at this time, we should ask our allies for help. Ask them to lure and drag the Qing cavalry to the west. If the Qing cavalry on our side is attracted, then Everything will be fine, if they refuse to go, then we can only find a way to eliminate the cavalry of the Qing army around us, and then go to attack Gaozhuang..."

Regarding Zhang Hong's decision, Zhang Yong was a little skeptical, because he could not trust his allies when he was still in the Ming army, so once the changes in the battle situation exceeded the coping capabilities of the troops in the Ming army, the generals of the Ming army could only choose to retreat instead of sending their troops back. Hope for the help of the friendly forces.After all, the generals of the Ming army who believed in the friendly army were basically killed by the friendly army. This is a lesson learned by the Ming army generals with their blood.

However, as a newcomer to Shunjun, of course he would not run into the bad luck of his boss, even if he got the result, it might not be a good thing for him.Therefore, Zhang Yong could only hope that Dashun's allies would be more reliable than Daming's allies.

It's just that their luck was not bad. The Qing cavalry who were searching around them suddenly gathered and headed west, apparently to join the Qing cavalry in the west.In this way, they don't have to worry about attracting the attention of the Qing cavalry at night, and Zhang Yong is also relieved. The gathering of these Qing cavalry obviously has some thoughts about the friendly army's garrison. In the mood of watching a movie, I had to take actions to protect myself.

However, Zhang Hong ignored these small thoughts in Zhang Yong's mind. After he sent someone to tell the friendly troops on the west side of the movement of the Qing army cavalry, he also revealed his action plan for the night, hoping that the neighboring troops could help them keep watch on the west side. The cavalry of the Qing army, don't let them rush back to Gaozhuang easily, and then he filed his night attack plan to the regiment headquarters.

After these procedures are completed, if there is any accident in the night's battle, the regiment headquarters will conduct an investigation based on these filing materials, and then hold them accountable.This is also the reason why Zhang Hong believes that the friendly army can be trusted, because the accountability and reward procedures in the new army are quite complete. Under the staff system, the past situation of "the general is out, and the emperor does not give orders" is already very difficult. Appeared.

Zhang Hong has three companies and four militia companies in his hands, with a total strength of nearly 4. In fact, due to years of war, the militia companies organized by the local villagers are not weaker than the soldiers of the new army. The biggest difference between these militias and the soldiers of the new army is One is logistics support, and the other is the organizational ability of the officers. Although there is only a difference between these two points, it has opened up the gap between the militia and the soldiers of the new army. If they go to fight in other places, they will easily flee.

There was a platoon and a militia company near Wulou. After the Battle of Gaozhuang, Zhang Hong believed that the Qing army would not be able to quickly capture Wulou if it was only a defensive battle. The enemy still has a certain degree of certainty. He feels that Wu Lou's defenders should be able to support them until they eliminate the enemy in Gaozhuang and rescue them.

For the battalion headquarters, Zhang Hong left a platoon and half a militia company to garrison. In addition, he arranged another platoon and half a militia company for monitoring and prevention on various main roads. In the end, Zhang Hong decided to use it to attack Gaozhuang There are only 2 companies and two militia companies left in the army, about 400 troops.

Since Zhang Yong has always performed outstandingly since the camp was established, Zhang Hong entrusted Zhang Yong with the task of attacking Gaozhuang. In addition to his own company, he also entrusted Zhang Yong with a militia company, while he himself A line of defense was set up around Gaozhuang to prevent the Qing cavalry from the east and west from returning to aid, or the Qing soldiers from Gaozhuang breaking out of the encirclement.

Zhang Hong didn't mind the Gaozhuang Qing army fleeing towards Shanxian Daying. He mainly wanted to prevent the Qing army from joining the Qing army cavalry after escaping from Gaozhuang, so that the next battle would be difficult.Zhang Hong's decision was strongly supported by Zhang Yong. Although as long as this group of infantry in Gaozhuang was wiped out, the Qing army's revenge action this time would inevitably fail, but compared with killing some past colleagues, Zhang Yong was naturally more I hope that a few real Manchurian soldiers can be wiped out. This is the real credit.

From the day the new army was established, it has not adopted any balancing tactics. Whether it is the Ming army or the Eight Banners of the Manchus, they are all in the same line in terms of army building ideas. These armies all pay attention to two points, strong and weak The branches and the small ones are in harmony with each other.

Strong stems and weak branches are easy to understand, that is, the army led by the emperor is more important than other armies. Whether it is the Beijing army in the early Ming Dynasty or the two yellow flags of Nurhachi, they basically follow this principle.The second is the system of small and large, that is, not allowing a single voice to appear in the army, and not allowing a powerful army to be in the hands of one person.

This kind of feudal army based on personal allegiance organization, the peak period was the Ming army in the early Ming Dynasty and the Eight Banners army in the late Jin period. It is impossible to let such an army develop forward, because the emperor will be more powerful than his enemies Worried about this army even more.Therefore, the feudal army can only become worse from generation to generation. Since self-improvement is impossible, it is still possible to compare worse.

However, when the Marshal’s Mansion formed the new army, it had already begun to revise the ethics of military loyalty. In theory, the new army’s loyalty was not to Li Zicheng, but to all the citizens of Dashun. Li Zicheng only commanded the army on behalf of all the people.This idea of ​​building an army based on modern nation-state ethics made it unnecessary for Li Zicheng to deliberately weaken the strength of the army, nor did he have to engage in mutual checks.

The new army itself has only one ideology, one commander, and one group. Although there are personnel struggles within the new army, it is impossible to build a private army like the Ming or Manchu.One is ideologically unreasonable, because soldiers who receive political education know that they are loyal to the motherland rather than a specific person; It can be replaced by raising a group of servants.

Chapter 508 Qing Army's Retaliation IV

Under such an idea of ​​building an army, the treatment of the new army is naturally higher than that of the old army, and the ranking of the new army is also based on combat effectiveness.Ever since Li Zicheng dismantled two new regiments to supplement the two regiments that consumed the most on the battlefield, everyone knew that preserving strength was not feasible, because the Marshal's Mansion would never give you a chance to preserve strength, who would be on the battlefield? The harder the fight, the sooner anyone will be supplemented by the Marshal's Mansion.

The officer promotion path within the New Army also gave hope to all low-level officers. In theory, as long as your credit and learning can keep up, you can always be promoted to the position of General Quan.This point corresponds to the Eight Banners. The Eight Banners have a total of 24 futures from Banner Ding to Gushan Ezhen. In theory, as long as you can get 24 futures, you can be promoted to the position of Gushan Ezhen. This military merit system is also the same It stimulated the soldiers of all ethnic groups who were absorbed into the Eight Banners.

That is to say, at this time, both Dashun and the Manchus abandoned the set of things that the Ming used to suppress the army, which also laid the foundation for Dashun and the Manchus to absorb the Ming army.For example, Zhang Yong, a former grassroots officer of the Ming Dynasty, began to change his mind after being exposed to the officer training system of the New Army, and developed a sense of belonging to Dashun.

On the battlefield, it is also the easiest to obtain military merit. Of course, Zhang Yong hopes to use this opportunity to make another great contribution for himself, so that he can skip the gap between companies and battalions and directly become a battalion-level chief officer.

In the system of the new army, divisions and brigades are expeditionary units, that is, they are only formed during wartime; on weekdays, the training unit of the army is the regiment, and the formation of the regiment on the battlefield is also very important, and it has the power to fight independently; The battalion unit is actually regarded as a small regiment, regardless of training and combat, has a certain degree of independence; the company platoon is a subordinate unit, and undertakes tactical tasks in the formation of the battalion.

For example, although Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong are one level behind, Zhang Yong does not have the power to decide the troops' combat plan, while Zhang Hong has this power. Although he needs to report to the regiment headquarters, generally speaking the regiment headquarters It will not be rejected, because the transportation is too inconvenient in this era, so in places that are not battles, the regiment only requires the battalion to complete its own combat mission, but does not interfere with how the battalion completes this mission.

When deciding on regimental-level combat plans, battalion-level officers also have the right to express their opinions, but officers below the company can only obey the regimental headquarters' decisions.Therefore, from a company to a battalion, this is the transition from a low-level officer to a middle-level officer, and it is also the first hurdle on the road to officer promotion.Zhang Yong can't wait to be the first officer to break through this hurdle. For the newly established army, any number one is valuable, because no one will remember who No.2 is.

Inspired by such emotions, although the road at night is difficult, Zhang Yong still tried his best to solve the problem of the team marching at night.In fact, the biggest problem of marching at night is the "blindfolded bird", which is especially serious in the north. Southerners, especially in the Jiangnan area, suffer from this disease less frequently.

In the past, people did not know the origin of this disease, but Li Zicheng commented on the origin of this disease. It seems that the body lacks something. As long as eating more animal offal, aquatic products and fresh vegetables, this problem can be improved.Southerners suffer less from this disease, because southerners generally like to eat fish and vegetables, and their living conditions are better than northerners.

Everyone is skeptical about Li Zicheng's claim. Anyway, if the Marshal's Mansion provides you with animal offal, aquatic products and fresh vegetables in this name, everyone will definitely not object.An important reason why the morale of the new army is generally higher than that of the old army is that the meals of the new army have far exceeded the meals of the Ming army in the past.

For those young people who came out of the countryside, during the three-month period, the recruits were able to eat rice and white flour steamed buns every day, eggs and vegetables every day, and meat every two or three days. Good food.The recruits who originally resisted the compulsory conscription quickly developed a sense of belonging to the army as a collective after three months of recruit life.

You must know that they used to do farm work at home every day and still couldn’t get enough to eat, because the half-children ate poor old people, so no farmer would let their children eat with an open stomach, especially in the years of continuous famine in the late Ming Dynasty, let alone eat enough , Even if they can not starve to death, they can be regarded as upper-middle-class people in the village.

The army can have enough food, give them new clothes, and teach them to read and count. For those young people who have just left rural life, this is a life like heaven.This is also the reason why Li Zicheng dared to lead the new army to attack the cavalry of the Qing army, because this army recognized the Dashun regime more than the former rebel army.

Also because of this high sense of identity, the army did not feel dissatisfied and frustrated with the difficult operation of night raids, but actively cooperated with the method Zhang Yong came up with to march.Zhang Yong's method of marching is actually very simple, because this is the control area of ​​the Shun army, and the Qing army huddled in Gaozhuang and several points, and there is no way to understand the situation in the field, so he simply ordered people to light the fire every [-] steps. A fire, as long as there are three fires lined up in a straight line, then the direction of progress is not wrong.

Relying on this basic knowledge of geometric straight lines, Zhang Yong took two companies of nearly 200 people to the vicinity of Gaozhuang in more than an hour. Far exceeded his expectations.He originally thought that it would be good if there were 7 platoons to 5.

Zhang Yong ordered the platoons to rest on the spot and eat some food and water; at the same time, he called the seven platoon leaders over to make arrangements for the attack.Zhang Yong chose a leeward place behind a small mound, lit a candle, and drew a simple topographical map of Gaozhuang on the mud with the dim light.Several platoon leaders formed a circle, squatting aside and watching intently.

Zhang Yong looked up at the people around him, and then said, "Li Cheng and Fan Da are locals, and many of the fortifications in Gaozhuang were built by you, so which one of you is responsible for the task of setting fire to the village and causing riots?" Willing to go?"

After Li Cheng glanced at Fan Da beside him, he opened his mouth and said, "Let me go. I sealed the tunnel into the village. I know where the exit of the tunnel is, and I know how to get out of the tunnel. Old Fan is better." I am familiar with."

Zhang Yong nodded and said, "Okay, then let Li Cheng go. If you destroy the village, you will be the first to do it. Gaozhuang has three main exits, east, west, and south, and two secondary exits, northwest and southeast." Fan Da, you guard the east exit, Xie San, you guard the west exit.

When the fire breaks out in the village, Li Tai, you lead people to fight from the southeast exit to the center of the village. Hu Shouyi and Li Yunsheng follow me and rush in from the south exit.As for Hu Baozhu, you stay here, gather the backward personnel behind, and serve as the backup of our army..."

Zhang Yong repeated his own arrangements, and asked several platoon leaders to talk about their own tasks, and then waved them back to prepare for the pre-attack.Watching the few people disperse, Zhang Yong immediately blew out the candles in his hands. Although this position did not allow the people in Gaozhuang to see anything, he still didn't want to make a mistake at all.

As Zhang Yong blew out the candles, the guards beside him also came over and handed him an oiled paper bag and a skin pouch. Zhang Yong took the pouch first and took a sip. Suddenly he felt a mouthful of fire wire swallowed from his throat, and his whole body felt warm all at once. stand up.He took another sip, then handed it to the guard and said, "Let the brothers take a sip to keep warm. The temperature is still relatively low at night, but everyone is only allowed to take a sip. Give me the kettle."

The guard agreed, and took off another skin bag from his waist and gave it to Zhang Yong, and then went to another place with the skin bag that Zhang Yong returned to him.Zhang Yong took a sip of water, feeling quite tasteless, so he picked up the oiled paper bag on the stone beside him and opened it, revealing a palm-sized moon cake.

Zhang Yong picked up the mooncake and took a bite. Although the mooncake was a bit hard in this weather, after the small bite was slowly melted by the saliva in his mouth, a sweet and rich taste burst out immediately.Zhang Yong can taste it. This should be the most famous Suzhou or Yangzhou-style mooncake, because other places do not put so much sugar and lard.

He turned his head and glanced at the soldiers sitting around. Everyone was chewing on a mooncake, but there was only the sound of chewing, but no one spoke.At this time, Zhang Yong also felt a little emotional, Marshal Du's Mansion is really rich, no, those Jiangnan people are really rich, Marshal Dou's mansion just spent all the wealth looted from Jiangnan people on the army.

Such authentic mooncakes, even an officer like him, could only eat a bite during festivals in the past, and they couldn't afford it on weekdays.In the past ten years or so, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have been crying for poverty every day, saying that the people in the south of the Yangtze River can no longer survive due to the excessive taxation by the imperial court.

These Jiangnan gentry hoarded so much money and food at home, and now they are forced to take it out by the Marshal's Mansion, they can make the army eat moon cakes as dry food during wartime.Thinking of this, Zhang Yong felt deeply moved. These gentry in the south of the Yangtze River relied on the Ming Dynasty to accumulate thousands of furniture, but they refused to spend half of their money for the Ming Dynasty. They would rather watch the Ming Dynasty go to ruin.But under the threat of Shunjun's butcher's knife, they honestly took out money and food, these people are really beyond words.

While Zhang Yong was thinking wildly, he finished eating the mooncake in his hand, and he felt comfortable all over. It really makes people feel warm when there is food in the stomach in the cold night.Zhang Yong was not the only one who felt satisfied, the soldiers around him also became more energetic. Obviously, the wartime dry food prepared by the Marshal's Mansion was very satisfying to the soldiers.

Zhang Yong waited for a while, and a soldier came to report to him: "Platoon Leader Li walked along the tunnel. He said that the other end of the tunnel is not dangerous, and asked you to give an order."

Chapter 509 Qing Army's Retaliation Five

"Damn it, Li Mazi is betting on time again. If I don't come to replace him at this time, I'll see if I come to replace him next time." A young soldier of short stature stood at the entrance of the alley and looked towards the center of the village. But apart from the faint chorus that tickled his heart, the alley was so dark that he couldn't see anything.

Another older soldier was squatting beside the fire, carefully roasting an old corn he got from nowhere, comforting the young soldier who was cursing and saying: "You should save your energy, just two days ago After paying the salary, Li Mazi will definitely not come to change shifts if he is not defeated. Besides, don’t you still give money to others when you go back? Why don’t you stay here honestly and eat corn with me, at least you can save money.”

The young man was not happy when he heard this, he turned his head and replied in dissatisfaction: "Brother Wang, aren't you cursing me? I think my luck is good today, otherwise I will be taken to send those corpses back to the camp Oh, it's really unlucky to spend the night with a bunch of corpses in the wild on this big night.

Since the luck is so good, it is natural to gamble twice, otherwise wouldn't it be a waste of luck to pass?If damned Li Mazi doesn't come to change shifts, he will be ashamed tonight... Whoops, who hit... Oh, Brother Li is here, you must be lucky tonight. "

The back of the head was slapped severely, and the dazzled young man who was beaten turned his head furiously and wanted to get angry, but when he saw the person standing in the shadow of the alley, he immediately changed his words to please.

As soon as he walked out of the alley, he heard someone cursing his gambling luck. Li Mazi, who had just lost his fortune, naturally started to do it unceremoniously.Naturally, the young soldiers did not dare to offend the old men in the army, otherwise they would not know how they died on the battlefield. The Ming army did not have a good record against the Manchus and bandits, but the record against its own people was very brilliant.Even if they have changed their name to the Qing Army now, some traditions in the army can still be changed.

Li Mazi trained the young soldier for a long time, until the other party brought out a few copper coins to honor him, then he kicked the young soldier and told him to leave quickly, so as not to hinder Master Li's eyes.Hearing this, the young man hurriedly ran into the alley with his spear in hand, omitting to reply.

"Running so fast, are you going to see the funeral?" Li Mazi yelled into the alley, but the young man didn't answer him, so he felt that it was meaningless, turned around, walked to the fire and sat down to roast. fire.

The soldier who was roasting corn glanced at him, and then asked slowly, "Lost again?"

Li Mazi immediately replied in dissatisfaction: "Can't you say something nice? What does it mean to lose everything? Do I look like someone who often loses everything?"

The soldier roasting corn cast a glance at him, and finally said with certainty: "It seems that not only have you lost everything this time, but you may have borrowed money from the capital, right?"

Li Mazi stared at him for a long time before looking away, sighed and said: "You are really a roundworm in my stomach, even I borrowed the next month's military salary from the Dusi, you really should go to the fortune-telling of."

At this time, the corn on the fire had already exuded a burnt aroma. The soldier who roasted the corn picked up the corn and checked the heat, and said casually: "Do you have to bet so badly? After saving the military salary, go back to your hometown to ask for a wife to live on." Is it not good?"

Li Mazi leaned against the earthen wall behind him, looked at the sky and said disapprovingly: "When I used to work for the imperial court, the imperial court didn't pay any money. There were things on the market, but we didn't have any money in our pockets, so we couldn't afford them. Now we are working for the Qing Dynasty." Well, the Qing Dynasty gave us real money, but there was nothing to sell on the market, and we couldn't spend it even if we had silver.

Go home to ask for a wife?If this battle continues like this, whether we can go home is a question. If we don't spend the money, won't it be cheaper for others?If you want us to say, we're just muddling along now, don't think too long-term, if we can live one more day, we'll make money..."

The soldier holding the corn turned his head and was about to say something, when suddenly a hand came around his head and covered his mouth and nose, and then a dagger cut his throat, and the corn in his hand suddenly fell It landed on the ground, and then was soaked in blood, making a "sizzling" sound.

Out of the corner of his eye, Li Mazi happened to see the scene of his companion being cut open with a dagger. He was so shocked that he wanted to stand up. He forgot to call the police under his nervousness, but soon two long guns were on him. On his chest, a low and powerful voice warned him: "Don't move, don't make a sound, or you will be taken."

Li Mazi's face turned pale under the dim light of the fire, but he quickly maintained his current posture and begged for mercy: "Shunjun masters, the younger ones must not move or shout. What do you want the younger ones for? Just do whatever you want. I just ask you gentlemen to be merciful and spare my life. Apart from being a little bit more gambler, I have never done anything outrageous...Masters, please be merciful..."

Looking at this very cooperative Qing soldiers, Li Cheng didn't have much doubts. From this look, he knew that it was the temper of the officers and soldiers. When he was doing business without capital around here, he didn't deal with the officers and soldiers once or twice. Anyway, these officers and soldiers are terribly afraid of their lives, as long as a few people die, they will not dare to go out of the city to suppress the bandits.

Of course, as long as you look at those thin officers and soldiers, you will know that these officers and soldiers may not eat as well as local thieves like them. Naturally, it is impossible to fight with them for the court. After all, if you die, no one will take care of your family. Well, as far as the imperial court's pension is concerned, it depends entirely on the degree of blackness of the official, how much it can be distributed to the families of the dead soldiers, but don't expect to be able to support a big family.

Although the morale of these officers and soldiers has improved a lot after they took refuge in the Manchus, is it legal to rob civilians after all?However, the morale of these officers and soldiers is based on the martial arts of the Manchus. It does not mean that killing civilians can improve morale, but that killing civilians without punishment can improve morale. cause of greater misfortune.

The morale of the officers and soldiers who surrendered to the Manchus before was high because the Manchus surrendered on hearing the news all the way south, and they almost never encountered firm resistance. After thinking that the Manchus could really defeat the Shun army, these new Manchus who surrendered Naturally, all the officers and soldiers fought bravely to be the first, one was to show themselves in front of the new master, and the other was to rob Shunjun of property.Since Li Zicheng started his army, he has regarded the gentry as his enemy. This certainly made the rebel army hated by the gentry, especially when the incident of torture in Beijing made the gentry directly become opponents of Dashun, but it also brought Another advantage is that a large amount of the property of the gentry was collected in the hands of the Shun army.

These officers and soldiers listened to the cries of those gentry officials, saying that the Shun Army tortured and looted in Beijing so cruelly that a Hanlin official would be paid more than [-] gold. Hanlin officials are noble but always relatively shabby. What is the source of money? Even Hanlin officials have to pay tens of thousands of gold, so how much should the powerful officials of the Six Ministries pay?In short, under the crying of these gentry officials, these officers and soldiers are not interested in what happened to them, they just want to know where the Shun army transported so much property to.

But when the army suffered setbacks in Jining and other places one after another, and the Azig army suffered heavy losses and retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River, these officers and soldiers finally realized that the Manchus may not necessarily be able to win the Shun army, which means that they did not follow The Manchus went south to make a fortune, but they might die.Their true nature is revealed when they realize that they are not in a sure-win boat, but perhaps a sinking one.

The crying Qing soldier in front of him, who just wanted to survive, was exactly the normal state of the Ming Dynasty's army.They are wolves in front of the weak, but they are begging watchdogs in front of the strong, or the watchdogs are still more dedicated than them.Li Cheng quickly obtained the deployment of troops in the village from this Qing soldier, which allowed him to obtain two important pieces of information.

The first information is that in the afternoon, 50 people escorted the excavated corpses of the Manchus back to the camp, so the strength of the Qing army in Gaozhuang fell to about 150; Negligent, did not leave a few full people in Gaozhuang to supervise the green battalion, so most of the green battalion with no military discipline are now gathering in the big mansion in the middle of the village to gamble, and the sentries all over the village are just fictional stories.

These two pieces of information greatly increased the chances of a successful night attack tonight. Li Cheng immediately ordered the Qing soldier to be taken out of the village through the tunnel and handed over to Zhang Yong to understand the situation. The subordinates discussed the crude Gaozhuang map on the ground.

"...The above-mentioned seven places all store firelighters. Currently, five places are unguarded. Although there are people in the other two places, they should not be guarded tightly, because they don't know that we store firelighters here. It's just that the Qing army Think of these two places as warehouses and livestock sheds.

Therefore, we divided the people into two parts, one part went to the five places to light fires separately, and the other part waited for the village to catch fire, then attacked these two places, and then lit them too.Afterwards, Xiaoqi, you lead people to attack the entrance of the southeast village, and the others will attack the entrance of the south village together with me to bring in the troops from outside.

With the loose military discipline of the Qing army, as long as our army enters the village, they should flee for their lives, and then we just need to chase them and not let them stop..."

After Li Cheng finished speaking, he asked several subordinates if they had anything to add. Everyone shook their heads, and only one person said hesitantly: "Are you really going to set fire to all seven places? Then the whole village will be burned down. Since the Qing army So bad, maybe we just need to hit a few spots to cause chaos..."

Li Cheng looked at him for a while, and then said: "I know you are from this village, and you are reluctant to burn down the village, but Marshal Du's Mansion has already compensated you for the loss that day, and the house here should actually belong to Marshal Du's mansion. .

If these Qing troops did not enter here, of course we would not set fire to it, but now that the Qing army is here, if we do not set fire to them, then our people will have to pay a lot of blood.Human lives are always more valuable than houses. You can rebuild the village after the fire is over, but you can't survive the death of people. "

The person who was hesitant about setting the fire finally shut up. Although he was very reluctant to burn his village down, Li Cheng also made it clear that the Marshal's Mansion had already paid for the fire, and he really had no objection.At least this is better than the imperial court's efforts to fortify the wall and clear the country, because the imperial court will not bear the losses of the people in the war.

Chapter 510 The Qing Army's Retaliation VI

Chen Minghan glanced at the cards of each house on the table, and then threw out the domino in his hand and shouted: "One pair, kill all. The second one collects money."

The two soldiers standing on the left and right sides of Chen Minghan immediately pushed away the soldiers surrounding the Eight Immortals Table, and swept the broken silver, women's jewelry and other things on the table into the bamboo dustpan they held in their hands.Dozens of officers and soldiers gathered around the Eight Immortals table looked frustrated, feeling annoyed by Du Si's strong luck tonight.

Chen Minghan, who killed the Quartet tonight, is also very generous. Hearing the complaints from these subordinates, he immediately said while counting the cards: "As the saying goes, if you have a bet, you have not lost. Today, Chen Laozi will bet with you until you stop betting." Don't say that Mr. Chen won't give you a chance to make money. If you are short of money, you can borrow it from Xiao'an. The interest will not be counted when the salary is paid next month. Is Daying as righteous as you, Mr. Chen?"

There is not only this table in this hall, but there are two other gaming tables besides this one. There are at least a hundred people around the three gaming tables. However, the table where Chen Minghan sits in the dealership has a minimum betting limit. After all, Chen Minghan Du Si personally sits in the dealership, not for the sake of winning or losing a few cents to tens of cents, that would be a waste of his honed gambling skills.

The light in the hall is not good. After all, it is just a house of a small landowner in the countryside. There is no good design, and there is no place to hang lights around, so the source of light is relatively monotonous. There are hundreds of people around a few tables. , quickly blocked the light in the inner circle.But even so, it didn't hinder the enthusiasm of these gamblers. For them at this moment, these three gaming tables have become the most fascinating places.

Hearing what Chen Minghan said, the soldiers who had lost everything and refused to leave, some of them gritted their teeth and stomped their feet and ran to borrow money, preparing to continue gambling.While gambling was in full swing in the hall, suddenly a few soldiers rushed into the hall yelling, but everyone didn't understand what they were shouting for a while, they just looked nervously at their bets and ignored them at all.

It wasn't until an officer rushed into the crowd and pushed away the people in front of the gaming table that Chen Minghan noticed him. He stopped looking at the cards and asked the officer in surprise, "What's wrong?"

The boss pointed his hand out, and then shouted angrily: "It's on fire, it's on fire outside..."

Hearing this yell, the soldiers in the hall who were addicted to gambling really fell silent, and the clever ones quickly ran to the door to look around, and soon they turned their heads and shouted in dismay: "It's really on fire, the fire outside so big."

Chen Minghan hurried to the front of the hall, and immediately saw a red light rising from the east, and there was billowing black smoke around the red light, but because it was night, these black smoke floating into the sky finally merged with the night. At the same time, if it is daytime, then this plume of smoke can be seen about ten miles away.

Not only is the east side on fire, but the west and south sides are also on fire, but they are slightly smaller.Chen Minghan quickly realized that the warehouse was burning to the east, so it was no wonder that the fire was bigger than it was.When he thought that the supplies including arrows, cotton armor, and food were all in the fire, his scalp suddenly felt numb. Without these supplies, they would not have to fight any battles.

So Chen Minghan turned around and shouted angrily at his subordinates: "Where are you still standing? Hurry up and put out the fire. If the grain and fodder in the warehouse are burned out, are you going to eat bark with the animals tomorrow? Go quickly."